A good interview is one with a great candidate

Notes on interviewing - with 30 questions to ask.

If you have interviewed a lot of people, you will be able to find out quickly if a candidate has what it takes for your company. Over time, you will learn to recognize that feeling you have when talking to ‘the one’. Or see those hidden red flags. But above all, you will have learned to recognize the key attributes that are the foundation for success in your company culture. Like many other execs, I hire a certain type. Because that has worked for me. I call the things I look for the 5 P’s: Pro-Activeness, Pride, Passion, Performance, Personality. This is not about job-specific knowledge, it's about finding that mix of attributes you know will succeed. I gathered this list of questions from my own experience and compared with some online sources; it consists of 30 universal questions of which I usually pick about half to conduct a 60-90 minute interview.

Preparation

Before I start to an interview round in a specific country, I prepare my ‘cultural filter’ with the Hofstede model. This helps me understand what typical culture bias there could exist between the candidate and myself. I work in a global company - it helps. Start the hiring process or a round of interviews with good hygiene:

• Use recruiters; good recruiters save you time and get you the best possible candidate. Smaller recruiting firms are faster and more responsive but have a small database and less advanced recruiting tools. Make sure the recruiter has been briefed correctly on the role. Then ask the recruiter to summarize back to you who you are looking for. You would be surprised how poorly they often read or listen.
• Summarize for yourself what kind of person (assuming they fit the 5-P’s already) we need for this position. 
• Write a very detailed job description (more than a full page) and get buy-in on that from the others dealing with this future coworker
• Reject 7-8 out of 10 resumes on average. Spelling mistakes, long stories? That’s a no. Resume not at all in sync with their Linkedin? Goodbye. Not explaining obvious omissions or white spots? Nope. Quick online search should not be returning anything weird.
• Ask to set up an initial interview over video if remote. Skype or FaceTime is OK, ZOOM on a bigger screen is better. Phone interviews do not give you all information. Face to face is obviously best but not always possible in a first round setting.
• Put a representative interview committee together. Another 4 people with a track record of good hiring. No juniors, those are a waste of time since they don’t know the tricks. Everyone makes notes during the interview, compare after all completed. No influencing each other earlier, unless a major red flag gets spotted.

The universal interview

An easy opener for every interview: ‘Do you have any questions for me before we start?’ You already catch people off-guard with this since they do not realize that this is an interview question already. If they have no questions or ask if it is OK to answer this later, ask what they know about your company or the job role or how they thought the recruiter explained the role or the company. I then ask why they chose to interview at our company. If they have no answers to that – I usually reject them right away, they do not have the right motivation. If they ask about the salary, company car, office location, public transportation and other irrelevant details, I reject them as well. If they come across as arrogant, just look at their phone, pick their nose, are not even trying to dress well or say something cheeky immediately – exit as well. These are all real-world examples. The world is full of people you don’t want to work with.

In the next phase I help defrost the candidate by telling a short history of our company and why we are different in about 5 minutes, taking their shield away, I then start to learn to know the candidate a bit better. I quickly increase the pace and make sure the candidate does not have enough time to think, because I want the first quick answer on about half of the list of questions below. Spread the questions over the interview committee, have them pick the ones they like from this list or their own. I would say there is no specific order except for the deep drilling ones which should be at the end.

1 “Does your current employer do yearly performance reviews?” If “yes” – what did you learn from it? If “no”, is that an issue for you? Why or why not? With this, the candidate can talk indirectly about his/her own strengths and weaknesses. You’ll learn a lot. Following the review, what would be the areas of your manager would have pointed at for improvement.

2 “Let’s assume we both decide to move forward with this and you join the company. Imagine you have been with us for three months. After that, one or both of us decide that this is not going to work. What is the most likely reason this happened?” Look for negative behavior. I had people tell me that they are sometimes negative or unwilling to adapt or found they cannot charge themselves for yet another sales role. Look for anything that is below the line (in the OAR/BED model). Above the line is the ‘victor’, that is what you want, and below the line is the ‘victim’ area. Avoid. Keep OAR/BED handy, you can use it everywhere.

Ownership

Acceptance

Responsibility

============

Blame

Excuses

Denial

3 Another question that will reveal the OAR vs BED thing, is to have the candidate talk about other people. “You don’t need to tell me exactly who, but think of one person you worked with recently that always gave you energy. Tell me what it is about this person that worked so well for you? Example?” Now, reverse; “who was someone you found negative and you tried to avoid him/her. What was it about them that just did not work well for you?”

4 “From everything you heard about this role, me, our company, tell me how you feel you would make a real contribution.” There are two kind of people: those that really want the job and the “maybe’s”. People who have really prepared will love to stand out with a great response, but the not-so-passionate will waffle and give you a middle of the road answer. You’ll catch that immediately. For the better drilling: ask again and put pressure by saying: “All candidates say that they’ll contribute, of course you are all qualified, we pay the recruiter for a good preselection anyway. So - what makes you so special?”

5 A nice one in the same category: “Why should we hire you?" This is one of the better interview questions because it is short, triggers candidates to describe what sets them apart from the competition.

6 “If you could start it all over, what would you do differently?” Brings out judgment, their view on decision making, a little honesty testing. Re-ask this one if you spot babbling. “What decision would you change?”

7 “When I ask your last manager which area of your work needs improvement, what will he/she tell me?” Honesty test, balanced reply test, self awareness.

8 “Describe the best manager you ever had”. This is a positive interview question, puts people at ease, but it is a very important one; it tells you how they have dealt with relationships. Follow up with Why/How to find out what the key element was in this synergy. People that answer this with a negative response - major red flag. Young people may refer to a university professor and that’s OK.

9 “Tell me about what drives you. And what blocks you?“ Go from the plus to the minus. See if they gravitate towards ownership and driving or towards the negative, the backseat, the victim of circumstances. Spot the whiners! Bonus points for people that explain blockers as things they like to overcome and how they do that.

10 “Tell me about the hardest deal, situation, negotiation you have encountered.” Tells you how they handle complexity, what they perceive as difficult, and how they look at this conceptually; are they part of the situation or are they looking at it from the outside in. Do they tell you how the situation evolved, what role they played, what the different sides were about, or do they only explain their own view. Red flag: If candidates only mention an example where they just failed, I reject them. I don’t need a natural quitter.

11 If you are hiring a manager: “how do you involve your staff when an important strategy decision needs to be made? “ The answer tells you whether a manager is secure and bold enough to involve others in decision-making. How they involve their staff -- with an email, or meeting, or conference call, for how long etc -- tells you a lot about their specific management style.

12 “Where do you see yourself in three to five years?” Well that is the biggest cliche question ever asked. We all had this one. It’s not what the candidates say, but how they say it or if they can answer at all that’s important. Have they thought about it at all? Confident or not?

13 “What are your biggest strengths you will bring to our company?”  Open question to let them paint the picture. Look for specifics and relevant accomplishments. Spot the storytellers and people just in love with themselves.

14 “What are the things you do not like to do, and just not want to work on? Test for honesty. A less threatening way to ask for weaknesses. Good probe for self awareness. People are usually good at what they enjoy and not so good at what they do not enjoy.

15 “Please walk me through a typical day at your current job and about your peers, manager, direct reports and your relationship with them?” Test the title and their story versus their actual job. Test for seniority and exaggeration. Find out how much freedom and autonomy they receive and give. For managers: Tell me about the people you hired in your last role? How long did they stay? How many worked out? Tests knowledge of employee turn-over, hiring skills and honesty. What makes a great team?

16 “What would your references, friends, peers, say to describe you?" Keep it short, compare to actual references to see how self-aware they are about their strengths and weaknesses. Watch out for babbling.

17 The “bad refs” question. “Think of someone you have had problems with in your past, who you would not use as a reference. How would they describe you and why?” Indirect path to the weaknesses question. Works well because candidates don’t realize that. Brings out issues and pain from the past (I had some of them burst in tears). Spot the baggage!

18  “Imagine we hire you, it’s Monday morning 9am, your first day. What are the first things you will do?” Tests the level they are thinking at, how they look at the needs of the job, solving problems, how quickly they will dig in. How much preparation they will do before implementing the first change or direction. Sensitive to the organizational culture? Spot the personality type, find the right Myers Briggs type for your role, if you believe in that (I do).

19  “What are you most proud of?” What level is this accomplishment at? Is it big, small, recent? Is it relevant at all? Does it show competencies, skills, just luck, working towards a short- or long term goal? Did they achieve it themselves or were they just present? Be careful if no answer – red flag! Also, if their fav sports team won the cup and they are so proud of that - no pass.

20 “What do you think are the most important 5 (or 3, or whatever) things for you to be successful in this role?” Response will be what they believe to be their strengths, which may or may not agree with your company’s priorities or philosophy. Hopefully they will talk to their actual strengths, rather than what they think you want to hear. Spot the difference.

21 “What could your current company do differently to be more successful?”Is this someone positive or negative, active or passive, accountable or avoiding responsibility? Watch out for the whiners!

22 “Why are you interested in this company / job?”  Re-ask as: “What do you know about our company and why do you want to work here? Genuine interest here or just another job opening? Shows knowledge of your company. Did they do their homework on your company, what level of information did they focus on and consider important? Do they talk about a career path that makes sense within your company?

23 “What have been the biggest failures, mistakes and frustrations in your career?” Brings out ownership and understanding about mistakes, failing, risks, and responsibility versus just blaming others and outside factors. How do they learn, is there resilience, the ability to receive feedback and review their own choices.

24 In case you smell trouble in the recent past: “Why have you decided to leave your current job?” Dig deep.Spot quitters, trouble makers, under achievers. Re-ask as: what have you done to improve, fix, change? What did they do to try to correct what was driving them away? Was it out of their control, or a projection of their own issues?

25 “What risks did you take in your current or last position?” Risk takers and optimists are far more useful than their opposites, on average. Depends a bit on what you are looking for. In your company, do you want to hire people who are OK with risk and change? Depends also on the maturity of your organization.

26 And now a good final question to get the fakers on their knees, my fav. The effect of this one can be enhanced by first pretending the interview is over (at 50 minutes in). Then say: ’wait, I have got one more thing’. “What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career so far?” 

To see why this simple question is so strong, imagine you are being interviewed and someone just asked this question. What achievement would you go for? Then, over the course of the next 10-15 minutes, dig deeper and ask about the following. How would you respond? “Can you give me a detailed overview of the achievement? Tell me about the company, your title, your position, your role, and the team involved.”. “What were the real results achieved? When? Why? What were the 2, 3 or 4 biggest challenges?”. “Where did you go the extra mile or take the initiative? Walk me through the plan, how you managed to it, and if it was successful.”. “Describe the surroundings, environment, resources, technical skills needed to accomplish the objective and how they were used”. “Any mistakes you made.” “Parts of the project you truly enjoyed. Aspects you didn’t especially care about and how you handled them.”, “How you managed and influenced others, with examples.”. “How you were managed, coached, and influenced by others, with examples”. “ What did you learn, what you would do differently if you could do it again”. “What type of praise, recognition, validation did you get out of it? If you do this questioning for 10 -15 minutes, you will learn a huge amount of information on the candidate, far more than you could have gathered otherwise.

27 “In a year from now, what will we celebrate, what did we achieve together?” Tells you about their confidence, senior thinking, goal-oriented thinking.

28 “If you got hired, got the salary you asked for, what kind of offer from another company would you consider?” Aka “are you for sale”.

29 “Who, in your line of work, do you look up to?” The role model question.

30. “Tell me how…” and let the candidate talk for a while. See where it goes. “So, (insert name), what's your story?” is another one like that.

Hope this helps you hire!

Richard Jonker